If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

The end of Rasmussen fetishism.

In Colorado, Rasmussen polled at 50%-47% for Romney. The actual result was 51%-47% for Obama, the reverse of Rasmussen's poll.
In Florida, Rasmussen polled at 50%-48% for Romney. The actual result was 50%-49% for Obama, the reverse of Rasmussen's poll.
In Iowa, Rasmussen polled at 49%-48% for Romney. The actual result was 52%-47% for Obama, the reverse of Rasmussen's poll, doubled.
In New Hampshire, Rasmussen polled at 50%-48% for Romney. The actual result was 52%-47% for Obama, the reverse of Rasmussen's poll.
In Ohio, Rasmussen polled at a 49%-49% tie. The actual result was 50%-48% for Obama, a two-point swing.
In Virginia, Rasmussen polled at 50%-48% for Romney. The actual result was 50%-48% for Obama, the reverse of Rasmussen's poll.
In Wisconsin, Rasmussen polled at a 49%-49% tie. The actual result was 52-47% for Obama, a six-point swing.

I have to wonder what happened. There are only 2 choices here. Incompetent pollsters or someone was blatantly lying. I suppose it's possible their sample size was too small. Or maybe even they did a bad job of getting an even spread of all ideologies in the sample size. Both of those are JV mistakes, and would mean they deserve every bit of flack they get. The other is someone high up in rasmussen blatantly changed the data to favor Romney. I'm not quite quite sure which is worse...

If I could take your pain and frame it, and hang it on my wall,
maybe you would never have to hurt again...

Other than possibly for enjoyment & time-killers in media coverage, I don't see a real practical use in trying to predict who's gonna vote for who. Maybe if you're with the campaign team itself, & want to know where you should spend more money & time on I could see that, but for you & I? I don't really get it. Perhaps there's some practical application I've missed that you all could enlighten me about.

Now, if this is an entertainment issue, than that's another thing entirely. If you get excited about checking polls, more power to you; far be it from me to judge what brings people joy.

Other than possibly for enjoyment & time-killers in media coverage, I don't see a real practical use in trying to predict who's gonna vote for who. Maybe if you're with the campaign team itself, & want to know where you should spend more money & time on I could see that, but for you & I? I don't really get it. Perhaps there's some practical application I've missed that you all could enlighten me about.

Now, if this is an entertainment issue, than that's another thing entirely. If you get excited about checking polls, more power to you; far be it from me to judge what brings people joy.

Elections are basically one big game played throughout the entire race. The polls function as sort of an unofficial "score". Now, yes, only the score at the end of the game matters. But keeping track of the score throughout the game has it's own interest.

It's like anything else. If you care about the outcome, you're going to be interested in updates on the likely nature of that outcome.